Five-day-old parents
my wife and I
are 5 day old parents
our minds are fried
deep fried
deep fried in baby wee
and battered in baby vomit
sleep is soiled
by endless nappies
tears and
cries of exasperation
pierce the house
both his
and ours
we fret
we fray
we fumble with the ceaseless stress of
feeding well
feeding right
feeding day
feeding night
but
no matter what
he’s 9 pounds of cute
he's our beautiful bundle of boy
he holds our hearts
in his tiny little fists
in a grip that will last a lifetime
“My patience, resolutions and beliefs are tested to the limits – sometimes daily.”*
Right at this moment one of my challenges is the constant, tuneless whistling from my elder son. When my boys were babies it was getting them to sleep or trying to figure out why they were crying. On any given day now, it might be squabbling, fighting, teasing, screaming, shouting or rudeness. Who’d be a parent? We might well question ourselves after the event, but we can’t very well put them back! Just how we find those inner resources, how we constantly demand more of ourselves, how we keep marching up that hill with a smile on our face and gladness in our heart at the sight of our ‘babies’ is one of life’s mysteries.
* © from Being Mummy by Anne‑marie Taplin published April 2007